Annual reporting on research programme 4 «Impact, Protection and Safety»
On 4 June 2024, the latest annual reporting event was held at armasuisse Science and Technology (S+T): Research programme director, Dr Ronny Lorenzo, presented research programme 4 «Impact, Protection and Safety» to interested parties from the DDPS. On the one hand, this programme will promote the exchange of knowledge within the department. On the other hand, the events will also make an important contribution towards improving collaboration.
Sarah Trösch, Staff, and Dr Ronny Lorenzo, Weapon Test Centre specialist unit, competence sector Science and Technology
Experts from the Explosive Materials and Ammunition Monitoring, Weapon Test Centre, and Communication and Electromagnetic Protection specialist units held presentations internally at armasuisse S+T, and an expert from a company named Tibio was invited to give a presentation.
At the start of the research report, Dr Ronny Lorenzo provides those in attendance with an overview of the main topics addressed in research programme 4. This includes both defence-relevant agency and security topics as well as military developments in the area of kinetic, chemical, thermal and electromagnetic weapons. As a result, the researchers are able to cover all of the agency, protection and security topics that are relevant for the Swiss Armed Forces.
They will address, for example, the protection and security of mobile objects. More precisely, the researchers are developing basic and specialist knowledge on modern defence concepts and the properties of modern composite materials.
Simulations in the area of external and terminal ballistics are increasingly being used as part of the work carried out in the research programme. These simulations allow us to reduce the number of trials required and to quickly draw up initial estimates for pressing issues, thus cutting back on the resources consumed and also increasing the quality of the results.
Simulations are also used as tools in the field of electromagnetic waves. This includes, for example, calculations of the non-ionising radiation (NIS) emissions of radar and radio antennas in this area.
Research with immediate benefits, using Mitholz as an example
Although research generally deals with topics that will only be applied or used in a number of years or even decades, there are always aspects of the work being carried out that could be applied to current issues. Three projects were presented within the latest research report. The research results generated from these projects can be put to good use, for example, in the clearing of the former Mitholz ammunition dump.
The first project is investigating an innovative method of detecting buried objects, such as unexploded ammunition, with considerably higher resolution capabilities than those of the radar frequencies used. To detect objects, a «time-reversal» algorithm is used which takes the signals received and uses these to calculate the concurrent wave propagation and thus map objects underground.
The second project presented, which is being conducted jointly by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Strasbourg, is looking into the potential health impacts of strong pressure surges and how they can be reduced by means of protective equipment made from innovative materials. This will, for example, help to ensure the safety of the workers involved in clearing the Mitholz site.
The research report was rounded off by a presentation on biological approaches for land reclamation in connection with the Mitholz project. The «Impact, Protection and Safety» research programme, together with its research partner Tibio, were able to demonstrate that there are certain micro-organisms in Mitholz that are able to break down specific explosives. This was identified by laboratory tests that need to be confirmed by additional experiments in a next step.
The research work presented will continue to be investigated as part of the research programme and the results of the research are set to be utilised in the future, for example in the Mitholz project.